1
The government has not argued that birthdates or other age-related facts implicate some privacy
interest that protects them from public disclosure, and it's doubtful such an argument would
prevail in any event.
Case 3:16-cv-06535-VC Document 54 Filed 02/22/17 Page 2 of 3

The government is highly unlikely to meet this burden, and certainly nothing it has submitted in

opposition to the preliminary injunction motion suggests it will be able to do so.

To be sure, the government has identified a compelling goal – preventing age

discrimination in Hollywood. But the government has not shown how AB 1687 is "necessary" to

advance that goal. In fact, it's not clear how preventing one mere website from publishing age

information could meaningfully combat discrimination at all. And even if restricting publication

on this one website could confer some marginal antidiscrimination benefit, there are likely more

direct, more effective, and less speech-restrictive ways of achieving the same end. For example,

although the government asserts generically that age discrimination continues in Hollywood

despite the long-time presence of antidiscrimination laws, the government fails to explain why

more vigorous enforcement of those laws would not be at least as effective at combatting age

discrimination as removing birthdates from a single website. Because the government has

presented nothing to suggest that AB 1687 would actually combat age discrimination (much less

that it's necessary to combat age discrimination), there is an exceedingly strong likelihood that

IMDb will prevail in this lawsuit.2

IMDb satisfies the remaining parts of the preliminary injunction test just as easily.

harm. See Elrod v. Burns, 427 U.S. 347, 373 (1976). Because the government has not shown
that AB 1687 is likely to prevent age discrimination, the hardship on IMDb from the absence of

an injunction would be much greater than the hardship on the government from the presence of

one. And for similar reasons, the public interest favors an injunction.

Accordingly, the government is enjoined from enforcing AB 1687 while this lawsuit is

pending. The upcoming case management conference is continued to March 21.

2
The government casts AB 1687 as ordinary economic regulation falling outside First
Amendment scrutiny. But IMDb Pro's commercial relationship with its subscribers has no
connection to IMDb's public site, which relies on data obtained from third parties or from the
public record. The government would perhaps be on stronger ground if AB 1687 were limited to
preventing IMDb from misappropriating the data furnished by subscribers to its industry-facing
site.

2
Case 3:16-cv-06535-VC Document 54 Filed 02/22/17 Page 3 of 3

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: February 22, 2017
______________________________________
VINCE CHHABRIA
United States District Judge